The Calling On Your Life

Hunter: Hey, Porch. Why don't you join me as we read God's Word together from the book of 2 Timothy, chapter 1, verses 1-12.

"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy.

I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me."

Now for our first message in 2 Timothy.

Kylen Perry: All right, Porch. How are we doing tonight? Are we doing okay? It's great to see you. Welcome back. If you've been here before, we're so glad you would continue to give up your Tuesday night. If this is your very first time in the room, you picked a great evening to join us because we are kicking off a brand-new series tonight that I cannot wait to get into. Before we do, it just feels right for us to pray, so I'm going to take a moment and pray for us, and then we'll dive headlong into this.

God, thanks for tonight. Lord, I feel a deep sense of my and our need for you in this moment. These people do not need me, Lord. They do not need The Porch. They need you. Not only do we need you, but we're here and we're saying to you we want you, God. We want to be connected to something that is big and bold and beautiful, and, God, that thing is you. So, hear us now that, God, we want you in this place.

If you agree with those words that "God, we need you and we want you," would you just, in the quietness of where you are, tell him that? "God, I need you." Maybe tell him what you need him for in the quietness of where you are. Maybe you're here, and you're wanting for more of him. Tell him that and why you're wanting for more of him.

God, we know you're worthy of wanting, you're necessary for needing, and we're a people who are united by those things. So, meet with us now, please, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.

When Brooke and I visited Rome several years ago, we did as the Romans do, and we made sure to hit all of the hot spots along the way. We checked out the Colosseum. We walked the Roman Forum. We went to the Pantheon. We made sure to go by the gelato shop. We did what any regular tourist would do.

Yet, of all of the places we hit, there was one place that stood out above the rest for me. Before we left Italy, we made sure, though it was our last destination, it would be the most meaningful destination, yet it would not normally strike you as a typical tourist destination because it is this little, tiny building known as Mamertine Prison.

Now, you probably hear that and think, "Prison? I guess we'll never travel together, because you and I have very different ideas about what travel looks like. It doesn't look like going to prison; it actually looks like trying to go on vacation." What you need to know about this prison is this prison is not your normal prison. It's a curious little place because it's not a place for common criminals.

You see, in the Roman Empire, it would have been a place for the empire's own enemies. It's not a variety of cellblocks. It's not multiple cell doors. It is actually just one cell, and that cell was reserved for those who were either awaiting trial or awaiting their own execution. It is this cell that is pictured behind me that the apostle Paul sat in himself as he awaited his own execution, and it's within this cell that he penned his last and most personal letter. He penned a letter to his young protégé. He penned a letter to Timothy.

I remember, as I walked into the cell, the reason it struck me so powerfully is, as I was within its walls and crouched within Paul's own place, I opened that letter. I read 2 Timothy to myself, and as I read those words, a thought struck me. "Paul, you lived an impactful life, yet this cell is a testament to the fact that your life ended, but the gospel didn't. The gospel didn't die in this cell alongside you. It pushed forward. It carried on. It pressed ahead."

It begged the question for me…How did that happen? I'll tell you how it happened. It happened because a young man, a young leader, someone like you in their 20s and 30s, heard the call from Paul. He rose up, stood his ground, embraced responsibility for the gospel, and continued that work that has made the difference in your own world. You see, that letter was written to a young man by the name of Timothy, and Timothy knew, "My time is now. My turn has come."

I am praying, Porch, that we, as young people like Timothy, would realize our time has come and our turn is now, and I'm hoping we will embrace the call the same way he did. I don't know if you've noticed, but our spiritual heroes of the faith aren't getting any younger. You can just look back over the last decade, and we have lost great names, the names of people like J.I. Packer, Tim Keller, R.C. Sproul, Charles Stanley, and Billy Graham. I could go on and on. We have lost so many heroes of the faith. Yet, though their lives have ended, the gospel must not. The gospel must continue forward.

The question, though, that is confronting us tonight is the same question that confronted me there in that cell as I crouched down against its wet floor…Who is going to go with it? Who will carry the work ahead? I'll just level with you. I'm hoping it's me. I'm hoping it's you. I'm hoping it is us, that God looks upon people like us within our generation, for our generation, and for every generation to come to be the people who see the movement of God from eternity past, grab hold of it, and carry it into eternity ahead. That's what I'm hoping for.

It begs the question…How do we do that? Well, that's what this entire letter is about. Famously, people's final words, their own swan song, often impart the most important things they want to communicate. In this letter, we see some of those things from the apostle Paul. He wants to tell you how you can accept the call, embrace the responsibility, take the baton, and carry the gospel.

But before he tells you all of the activities you need to do, he wants to tell you the attitude with which you need to do it. That's where the whole letter opens up. That's why Hunter read to us those first 12 verses, because it introduces to us a mentality, an outlook, a mindset we need to have, an attitude we must adopt, if we're going to be a part of this work.

So, if you have a Bible, turn with me to 2 Timothy. As you're doing that, let me just say this from the get-go. Some of you are here, and you're like, "Dude, you are intense, and I'm not a Christian. I am here just checking things out. We're checking him or her out, and I did not know, necessarily, that you were going to be coming on so strong."

Let me just say, this evening is an interesting evening, because while every single Tuesday we try to open the Scriptures in a way that appeals broadly to all people, this chapter is very specifically written to the family of God, so I'm going to be speaking most specifically to believers. If you're here and you don't know Jesus, let me encourage you with this: Jesus has something for you tonight too.

So, let's look into what Paul has to say as he writes to his young protégé. We're going to pick it up in verse 6. Paul says through the first few verses who he is and who Timothy is. I love that he identifies Timothy specifically, within verse 5, that he has a sincere faith, which means it's not a hypocritical faith. It's not a faith that saves face. It's not put on so others like him. Instead, it is a faith of genuineness.

Then, as we keep going, it gets into verse 6, and it says, "For this reason I remind you [Timothy, or believer] to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." Now, out of the gate, there's some debate around what Paul means when he says, "Fan into flame the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hands."

Some commentators read that as an individual interpretation, that Paul is telling Timothy, "Hey, I want you to fan into flame the God-given gifts that are specific to you. You're a pastor, so you need to work on your teaching, your preaching, your leading, and your shepherding. So, Timothy, you get to work on those things." They look at Timothy like he's the guy in high school sports who has all this raw potential but none of the work ethic to actually seize it. They're telling him, "Hey, you need to get after it, Timothy."

Yet, while there is some good argument that that would be true, that's not the only argument. In fact, I think there's a better argument for what he means when he says, "Fan into flame the gift of God." What does he mean then? Well, I think he tells us in verse 7. He says, "…for God gave us [gifted us] a spirit not of fear…"

So, what's the gift then? He has gifted us a spirit of courage. He has gifted us…you, brother, sister…a spirit of courage, which is why we must kindle the flame of courage. That's your first point. We must kindle the flame of courage. That's the attitude God wants his people to walk with. That's the manner in which we move.

Notice courage is given from God, which implies something really important. It implies that courage is not your factory setting. It's not your default mentality. Fear is. Fear is the default setting for people who do not know God. We get that, because we're all tyrannized by some kind of fear…fear of the future, fear of failure, fear of man, fear of the outsider, fear of death, fear of not being enough…whatever it is. You can name your fear for yourself. That is your default mode until Jesus.

Then Jesus steps into your story, and he changes everything, and as he changes everything, he moves you from a mentality of fear into a mentality of courage, which is really important to understand, because as he gives you a spirit of courage, that insinuates something so important. I want you to catch this because I think you're going to want it. He gives you a spirit of courage because he does not intend for you to live a lame Christianity. He gives you a spirit of courage because his future for you is not small nor insignificant.

He gives you a spirit of courage because he wants a future that is big and bold instead. That is his intent for your life. He wants you to have a courage that moves past low-risk environments and steps into high-risk environments, because that's what courage is needed for. No one needs courage to tell their mom "Hello," but, fellas, you need courage to tell her "Hello." That's different. There's a different level of risk there. What we know is the higher the risk, the higher the reward.

So, if Jesus is calling you into a life where courage must be your default setting, your mentality, what that insinuates is, yes, there's going to be some risk, but there's also going to be some reward. There's going to be something in my journey with him through this life that is going to be fulfilling, that's going to be meaningful, that's going to be worthwhile, and we all want that. You want that. I know you do, because I talk to you every single week down front or out in that coffee shop that you walk through, people who want to leave a legacy, make a difference, change the world, and find fulfillment. That's what young adults want.

The amazing thing Paul is telling us, as God gives you a gift through the spirit of courage, is he wants that for you more than you want that for yourself. He's looking at you and is like, "Oh, you want to leave a legacy? You want to change the world? You want to find fulfillment? I want that for you more than you want that for yourself."

Yet here's the issue. "If we're in agreement, God, why then isn't that my reality?" Because we're not as courageous as we think. You see, we set great goals, but what we fail to realize, in view of our great goals, is that those great goals actually fall short of the greatness of God and the goals he would set for our life instead. So, what we do is rather than focusing on changing eternity, we focus on changing the world.

Rather than working to leave behind a spiritual legacy, we just focus on leaving behind a physical legacy. When we could be making a difference forever, instead we just focus on making a difference today. I'm not saying that those things are not good, but I am saying those things are not of God. God wants your life to be purposed into something that transcends the barriers of our time and extends into the future forever. That's the kind of greatness he's calling you into. That's the sort of courage he has given you.

John Shedd says, "A ship in harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for." Some of you hear that, and you're like, "Yes, I want that. I want to set out onto the open ocean. I want to raise my sail. I want to catch the wind. I want to voyage into the future." Yet, often, we dream dreams that are too small for God because we fear looking odd or different or strange or weird in the eyes of the world. Because we do, we settle for the creature comforts of a casual Christian life when the radical reward of a courageous life is waiting for us instead.

That's why we have to fan the flame. That's why we have to keep the fire. That's why we have to cultivate our courage, because while God has given us the gift, it's our job to keep the gift. So, how do we do that? How do you keep your fire burning? Well, I'll put it very simply, though there's a lot we could say. I would simply tell you what Brooke and I believe in our family: you just say yes to whatever God asks. That's it. You just say yes to whatever God asks.

We have a family motto that we want to live our lives on the cutting edge of faith, which just means we want to live where the fighting is fiercest. We want to be in a place where God has to be greatest. If we're in a place of life where God is not required to move, why would we want to be there? We want to be where God has to make himself known to be exactly who he says he is. So, we say yes to him as often as possible.

Now, those "yeses" look different over the course of our lives. They've looked small, they've looked big, they've looked peculiar, and they've looked uncertain at different times. I mean, it has looked as small as just going across the street and watering the widow neighbor's plants. It has looked as personal as taking our guest bedroom, opening it up, and inviting a girl who had been kicked out from her family to live with us for a season until she could get her feet back underneath her.

It looked as unpredictable as leaving community, stepping away from our city, and journeying someplace we never thought we would live because there was no ministry there that needed to be there. You just say yes to God. Now, I'm not putting us up here as the example to follow. We have said no far too many times, and every single "no" we have lived to regret. So, I'm imploring you. Don't say no when God is asking you to say yes.

So, where is he asking you for your "yes" tonight? Is it finally to come clean of the last 2 percent of your sin struggle that you've been hiding away and keeping in the dark because you don't know what people will think of you if you actually come forward about it all? Is it yes to joining re:gen and actually working through your past as opposed to ignoring that that thing happened and thinking, "As long as I don't look at it, I don't have to remember it"?

Is it yes to talking to your coworker about Jesus? And I don't mean talking to them in a way where you're trying to intellectually arm-bar them into submitting into devotion to Christ. I'm talking about visiting with them in a way where you just ask them, "Hey, what do you think of God?" and then letting the conversation flow naturally and visiting with them about the person of Jesus.

Is it saying yes to writing a letter and building a bridge with that estranged brother or sister you haven't spoken to in weeks, months, or even years? Maybe it's yes to answering Tyler's call and filling out an application, joining us here at The Porch, and leveraging your life for a cause that is bigger than yours. I'm not talking about the cause of The Porch; I'm talking about the cause of the kingdom. There is a "yes" God is asking of you, so why wouldn't you say yes to it?

Listen to me. Noah said yes to building an ark when it had never rained on the earth, and God used his family in the process of recreation. Abraham said yes to following God when he didn't even know where God was taking him, and he became the father of many nations. Moses said yes to confronting Pharaoh, and God performed signs and wonders as he delivered his own people out of Egypt.

Ruth said yes to Naomi, and God made her the ancestral mother to the Messiah. David said yes to facing Goliath, and God made him king over his people. Elijah said yes to confronting the prophets of Baal, and God sent fire from heaven. Best of all, Jesus said yes to the cross when no man in his right mind would have, and because he said yes, God raised him in victory over sin and death.

Why don't you say yes. It's through your "yes" that you kindle the flame of your courage and cultivate the gift God has given. You see, you believe big about God, and then you say yes to putting yourself in positions where he becomes big as a result. When you do, that changes everything about the way you lead your life. It leads you to not just move through this world casually; it leads you to embrace opportunity even if it is risky, which is what Paul goes on to say next.

He tells us in verse 8, "Therefore [because God has given you a spirit of courage] do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God…" We've already clarified that God has given you a courage that's going to lead you into a life that is rewarding, but it will require risk. Paul tells you right here it's going to require two risks of you very specifically. It's not isolated to these two and these two alone, but it certainly will be these two and these two alone.

I love the two Paul gives us, because it shows that Paul knows his audience. He understands Christians very well, because he actually points to the two risks we're often most gun-shy about when it comes to our faith: telling people about Jesus and suffering well whenever hardship comes. Those are the two things Paul does.

Why would he do that? Why would he say this? Because Paul knows your second point: courageous faith is uncensored faith. Courageous faith is unashamed of what other people think, and it is unafraid of any difficulty ahead. I was thinking about how to illustrate this to you, and I just thought if you're a sports fan, you're going to understand this, more than likely, and if you're a Cowboys fan, you're going to understand this most definitely.

Every single season, without fail, we are unashamed of where our loyalty lies. "We Dem Boyz." Right? We step up and say, "Hey, this is who we are." Yet, though we're unashamed of where our loyalty lies, we're also unafraid of the consequences of following these guys, because year after year after year after year, they don't ever seem to pan out the way we're hoping they would.

Here's the thing, though. The difference between Jesus and the Cowboys is Jesus is undefeated. Jesus has never lost. He has only ever won, which means you have no reason to censor any part of your faith. So why would you do it? Well, why do you censor anything? You censor something because you think that something is inappropriate, which means if you're censoring your faith, you think Jesus is inappropriate.

You look at him and say, "Hold on. This wouldn't be right for this moment. I'm at the office, so I need to censor you, because it would feel inappropriate to jeopardize my working relationships," when in reality all you're doing is jeopardizing their eternity. You censor him when you're out with your friends because, "Man, it feels inappropriate to impose my Christian convictions and spoil all the fun," even though those same Christian convictions are trying to save you from the guilt and regret you know you're going to feel in the morning.

You censor him from your social media because it feels inappropriate to risk your image to your followers when, in reality, what you're doing is risking your witness to all of your followers. This is the crazy thing. Jesus never censored himself for you. He was willing to be 100 percent of who he said he was, the Son of God, and he was willing to do 100 percent of what he said he would do: die for your sins. That is truly inappropriate, yet he was willing to live uncensored in his fidelity for you so that now, because we have believed in a God who saves, we can live unashamedly with fidelity to him.

We don't have to care what anyone thinks because we already know what God thinks, and we don't have to be afraid because we already know how the story ends. Jesus tells us in John 16:33, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

Paul says it later when he writes to the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 4:16-17. "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison…"

Listen, Christian. You and I should never believe that trouble isn't coming. The Bible has said far too much to convince us that it will. We should never believe that trouble isn't coming, but we should always believe that hope isn't far behind. That's why when…not if but when…trouble does come, we don't lose heart. Listen to me. If you fear that you won't have a future because of what you did in the past, in Christ you have hope, because shame doesn't get to write the end of your story.

If you're suffering because you have some chronic pain or some mental illness or some body shame, in Christ you have hope, because he has promised to replace your mortal body with a heavenly one. If you lose your family, your friends, and your loved ones out of your allegiance to Jesus, then in Christ you have hope, because it is through him that we have new family, new friends, and new loved ones. It's through him that we have us. You have hope.

I know as I say that, for those of you in this room who are suffering right now and have been suffering for a long time, you nonetheless wonder, "Okay, I get that. I understand that I'm going to suffer. In fact, I know I will because I am already, but why, Jesus, must I suffer?" I'll tell you why. Because it is in your suffering, not your strength, that Jesus saves. It's by suffering that we comfort one another. That's what 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says.

It says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." Do you hear that? You're more capable of comforting people because of your suffering than you are apart from it. This is why vulnerability begets vulnerability and courage is contagious, according to Brené Brown.

Brooke and I were talking, over the course of the weekend, with our nanny, and she was unpacking some of the highlights of her time at Launch. As she was kind of running through the list of all of the things she got to experience, the thing that topped all of them was this evening she had with the girls in her group late at night. They just started sharing their stories with one another. They just started speaking honestly with one another.

The reason that evening was so significant was because, as they started sharing about themselves, and not just the best of themselves but the worst of themselves, the hardest things of themselves, what they found was it began to comfort one another. You see, in Christ, wounding can be wonderful. Bruising can be a blessing, because those things actually become a bonding agent for us.

So many of you get that. You have been in places where someone looked up and was like, "Yeah, man. I struggle with porn." You were like, "Dude, I thought no one would ever say it, but me too." "Yeah, I'm bulimic." "Me too." You've been in that place. You've heard someone identify their deepest pain, that thing they would hide farthest away, yet they bring it into the light, and as they do, you feel comforted by it.

You see, suffering can save, but it doesn't just do that. It's by suffering that others see Christ as sufficient. Second Corinthians 12:10 tells us, "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." Do you know how compelling it is to people when they know what's happening in your life…? Like, nothing is going right, everything is going wrong, yet you're okay.

That's so confusing to them. It's so confounding. It's so perplexing. They're like, "Hold on. This doesn't make any sense. How are you so stable? How are you so secure? How are you so strong?" It leaves them wondering what you have that they and the rest of the world do not, and then it compels them to understand you have Jesus and they need him too.

Lastly, suffering saves because it's by suffering that Jesus makes himself known. Jesus suffered for our sake, so if you follow him, you get to suffer. Notice you get to, not have to. You get to suffer for the sake of others. That also is wildly perplexing. They wonder, "Why would you give me money? You've been saving up for that car, for that trip, for that remodel, yet you've given me whatever it was you were saving because you heard I had a need? Why would you do that?"

"Why would you forgive me when I've been nothing but difficult for you? Why would you be kind to me when I've only ever been hateful to you? Why would you comfort me when all I've ever been is indifferent toward you?" Then they learn, "Oh, it's because you know Jesus. It's because you know a man who initiated toward the unlovable, who pursued the undesirable, who saved the unforgivable. That's how. It's not you; it's him, and it's him through you now."

You see, suffering can save, which means fear isn't our future, friends. If you know Jesus, that's not your future; freedom is, instead. Because that's the case, we don't have to blur our beliefs for people. We don't have to censor our faith for others. We can speak plainly, we can share openly, and we can suffer peacefully, because Jesus has made all of that possible. We have been given a gift of courage, and that changes everything about the way we move.

Now, does that mean it's always going to be easy? For sure not. There's nothing easy about the Christian life, and Paul knows that. He's going to tell Timothy, "Hey, I know you have the gift of courage, but I also feel like you need some confidence to boost that courage." So, listen to what he says. In these final four verses we're going to read together, verses 9-12, he says:

"[God] saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do."

It's a mouthful. Paul has a little bit of a run-on sentence because he gets so excited. He finishes by saying, "But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me." I love it. Paul looks at Timothy, and he gives him this pump-up speech. He knows, "Hey, I've told you what's true. I've called you to what's hard, yet you might need a little confidence boost beneath your courage."

He looks at Timothy, and he sees what my coach saw in us when I was in high school. It was my first year playing high school football. We were finally, for the first time in 20 years, facing off against our crosstown rival. Listen. They were good. Like, really good. Like, "they'd won state the year before" kind of good and played in a different district altogether than us, yet in this moment, they were coming to play against us, and we were bad. I'm not being modest. We were really bad. We were not in any way whatsoever comparable for the competition.

In this moment, our coach knew, "Hey, I'm going to give you good courage. I'm going to train you. I'm going to prepare you. We're going to practice hard. You're going to have every reason to step into that fray and fight as well as possible." Yet he also knew, "Though you have courage, you need some confidence to boost that courage. You need a little shot in the arm."

So, he walked into that meeting and gave us a speech the likes of which I dream about to this day. It fills my bones as I prepare to preach. You know, it was that kind of moment. It was so motivating. It roused my inner man, and it led me forth into the throes of battle to be utterly defeated. He did all of this because he knew, "Hey, it's one thing to have courage, but you also need good reason for courage. You need some confidence beneath it."

Timothy needs the same from Paul, so Paul writes this pump-up speech. He gets so engulfed by all that he's sharing, and the reason is because he wants Timothy to know, "Hey, true courage finds its confidence in Christ." True courage finds its confidence in Christ. It doesn't find its confidence in anything else. It doesn't find its confidence in your ability. It doesn't find its confidence in your social status. It doesn't find its confidence in what people think of you or how well you're regarded or what your reputation is online. It doesn't find confidence in anything but him.

The reason we know that is he gives us four reasons within these four verses for that confidence. He tells us, first and foremost, in verse 9, that Jesus is the one who calls and saves. I love it. None of us were looking for Jesus when he found us. None of us. Think about where you were when he found you.

I know where I was. I was at this cheesy little youth group conference out in Arlington, Texas. As I sat in this room, it was this overly dramatic skit from stage that absolutely plucked my heartstrings and compelled my faith. I look back on that, and I'm like, "Oh my gosh! That was the most cringeworthy skit ever." Yet it was through that thing that Jesus decided, "Yep, you're mine. Come on."

He used that, because he doesn't need anything else. He can do whatever he wants whenever he wants with whomever he wants. He's the one who calls, and he's the one who saves. It is up to him when it happens, how it happens, and with whom it happens. So, when it comes to us, it gives us every reason to share the gospel at all times and in all ways and with all people.

The second reason we have confidence is because Jesus does all the work himself. It says so in verse 9. He says, "…not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace…" Listen. Someone's salvation does not depend on your ability to get the sales pitch right. Some of you need to hear that.

Someone's salvation does not depend in any way whatsoever on your ability to sound fluent or answer all of their questions or walk the Romans road with them or present a compelling case for Christ. He doesn't need you to do any of that. It's not about how awesome you are; it's about how awesome he is. That's what saves. He's the one who does the work. He has done way more with way less in the past. I promise. So say yes to him. That's the second reason.

The third reason is Jesus abolished death once and for all. That's verse 10. That is important for us to understand, because what that's telling us is Jesus has taken the sting out of the very thing we should be most afraid of in life. We have no reason to fear death any longer, because Jesus neutered it of all its power.

What are you afraid of by sharing the gospel? That they won't like you? That they'll make fun of you? That they won't invite you out on the weekend? Listen to how trivial this stuff is. I'm not trying to belittle that, because I understand a desire to be liked, yet Jesus is looking at you and saying, "Hey, man. Their soul is worth more than your approval, so tell them about me." That's the third reason.

The fourth reason is Jesus isn't a theory; he's a person. Verse 12 tells us, "I know whom…" Not what but whom. "…I have believed." I am convinced so much evangelism does not work because we are trying to tell people about a concept to understand than a person to know. We're so convinced that what they need are the facts of the faith. I'm not diminishing the significance of truth, but what I am telling you is there's no fire within facts and facts alone. Facts don't make followers of Jesus; they just make fans. That's all they do.

You can know all about someone but not actually know someone. Jesus has not settled for that kind of relationship with you. He did not live the perfect life, die the death you deserve, and rise forth from the grave, taking up his own life in his own hand, and then ultimately beating back all shame forever for those who would believe in him, just so we could know about each other.

Do you hear how ludicrous that is? That's not what he has come to do. Yet so many of us are settling for an evangelism that is just trying to invite people into that kind of dynamic. Jesus did not die for that kind of dynamic. He died so people would know him, walk with him, love him, and relate to him. I probably shouldn't say this, but if that's your strategy, you should ask yourself the question…How well do you know him or do you just know about him?

We have good reason for confidence, friends. God has given us a spirit of courage, and he has given us good reason to live like it. So, let me ask you…Why don't you? I've been thinking about that a lot. I think there's a lot we could say about why we don't live lives of courage but live lives of cowardice. There are really plausible, really understandable reasons for why that is, reasons that are not specific to you and you alone but are also inclusive of me, myself. I'm not perfect at this. I fail at this every week.

What reasons could there be? Yes, I know it could be the opposition we fear we'll face from others. It could be a neglect of spiritual discipline. It could be some willful sin in our life. We could number a variety of different things that put us in a place where we don't feel like we can do this, yet I'll tell you, bottom barrel, why so many of us do not operate with this sort of courage. The reason is we don't think we're good enough.

We look at ourselves and think, "Me? No. Certainly not me. I don't know enough. I'm not bold enough. I'm not charismatic enough. I'm not funny enough. I'm not witty enough. I'm not learned enough. I'm not smart enough. I'm not enough. The bottom line is I'm just not enough. So, Jesus, you've got to find someone else. I trust that you will do that. I believe you'll send someone else, that you'll find someone else who will call to them. You'll send someone else who will go to them. You will send someone else who will save them."

God looks at you and says, "I already did it. I sent someone. I have spoken through someone. I have saved through someone, yet that someone, being the someone of Jesus Christ, wants to go with you. He wants to do it with you." When we were lost in our cowardice, unwilling to do what we know we should do, Jesus came courageously for us. He moved from heaven to earth, and he navigated all of the complexities, all of the difficulties, and all of the challenges of our present day, because he ultimately wanted to get to you.

We were ashamed of our sin, yet Jesus was not ashamed of you at all. He lived uncensored for you. He moved through this world in a way where he never feared associating with you. I wish some of you would get that. He wants you, man. He longs for you. He hungers for you. He yearns for you, so much so that he would be all that he is, even coming to you that you could be all that you are in coming to him.

Then, when we were uncertain if we would ever be right with God again, Jesus had confidence that you'd be his anyway. He knew. He knew the cost, but he didn't second-guess it. He knew the price, and he was willing to pay it. He knew the debt that only he could cover, so he had confidence to come and to get you.

Jesus knew when his time had come, that his turn was then, and he raced into it. Paul knew when his time had come and when his turn was now, and he raced into it. The same was true for Timothy. The question I just want to leave you with is…Do you believe your time is now and your turn has come, and will you race into it as well? Let me pray that you would.

Jesus, thanks for tonight. Thanks for the sufficiency of your Word. Thanks for the power of your Spirit. I have nothing good to give these people. I have no amount of fervor, no amount of zeal, no amount of passion that could compel them to believe, that could move them to action. I can't rattle their dead bones and bring them to life, but you, Jesus, can do all of that, and you can do so much more. So I'm praying, God, that you would now.

God, this has just been on my heart as I've been thinking about 2 Timothy. Far be it for The Porch to be a place that is found popular. Let it be, God, that The Porch is found to be a place that is powerful, a place where you delight to dwell, where you move amongst your people, where you breathe new life, forgive old sin, and change souls forever. Would you do that work now, God, please, we pray? In Jesus' name, amen.